Mana Knights: The New Age
by Alustren
Summary: Secret of Mana Continuation of Secret of Mana. The story of three friends who discover that they must save another world, one of adventure and danger. Hopefully this time I'll end up picking this up full time, watch for updates.
1. RePrologue

_Authors note: So, it's been years since I decided to write the first few chapters of this story. I'm older, slightly more experienced as a writer, certainly better read than before, and I've still had this story bounding around in my head. It's changed form many times, but maybe writing it down will finally give it a static form. I intend now, between college work, to try and bang out new chapter. So again I say, bear with me and let's see were this goes._

Using the power of Mana, a civilization

had grown strong...

In time, Mana was used to create the

ultimate weapon: the Mana Fortress...

This angered the gods. They sent their

beasts to destroy the Fortress...

A violent war rocked the world, and Mana

seemed to disappear...

Before all was lost, a hero with the Mana

Sword smashed the Fortress...

Though the civilization had been destroyed,

the world was peaceful again.

But time flows like a river... and

history repeats...

And so in time the Mana Fortress

was resurrected...

Once again a hero was called upon

to stop the Mana Fortress...

With the help of two friends the Mana Beast

was crushed and the world saved...

The second destruction of the Fortress caused

the world to split into two worlds...

The first was a more arcane world, containing the powers of mana...

The second world grew without the blessing of mana...

Science took hold and the world grew into one of machines and technology...

The worlds have been completely separate since their creations...

However the barriers between world are beginning to weaken...

Now the worlds are both in danger from the same ancient power...


	2. Chapter 1: Beginnings

**Chapter 1: Beginnings**

It was a day the same as every other. Hardly a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze in the air. The temperature was ever so slightly warm, everything you would expect from a typical spring day. Nothing at all in the air to indicate that everything would quickly be turned on its head.

Hale Ashton was taking a stroll through his town, lost in his own thoughts. It was a small town, almost small enough to just be considered countryside housing. It was located near a huge city, far enough away to avoid all the noise. Hale was a pretty unimpressive teenager, only about average height for a youth his age, and neither too bulky nor too skinny. He sported slightly curly brown hair, that was just long enough to cover his ears. He had bright blue eyes, and a strange half smile that almost looked more like a smirk.

He was lost in his thoughts, letting his mind wander wherever it wanted, most of the time. He was known to space out a lot, especially without any kind of mental stimulus. He was far more intellectual then athletic, even though he was far from out of shape.

The first of his two close friends, Alan, met up with him and quickly fell into step, they had made plans to head into the city today. Alan Campbell was much the opposite of Hale. Whereas Hale was starkly unimpressive, Alan was a monster of a youth. He stood almost a head taller than Hale, and was built like a freight train. He had a broad chest and shoulders, and his arms were full of muscles. Despite his size and strength, he had the glimmer of a sharp mind in his hazel eyes. He kept his blondish brown hair cut short, preferring not to hassle with it.

The last of the trio was rushing to catch up the them as they were leaving their little suburban town. Her name was Cair Ross, and she was a beautiful little gem. She had flowing red hair the extended past her shoulders, and emerald colored eyes that contrasted her hair in the best possible way. She had a lithe little frame, a tiny thing even next to the average Hale. She was always energetic and lively, and had a temper that held true to the color of her hair.

"Geez, what's up with you two? I thought you were gonna leave without me." She said to them with a fake pout. "So what's the plan for today?" She asked the pair.

"I figured we'd get something to eat in town, maybe something outside since it's a nice day," Alan said to her, before frowning at Hale, "Now if only someone would get his head out of the clouds."

"Huh, sorry. My mind is just wandering again." Hale gave them his little half smile, "Lunch outside sounds like a good idea though. I'm feeling like a sandwich, what about you guys?"

The three agreed and walked through the city to a little sandwich shop that sat on a corner. Now I say they were in the city, but it was hardly the city proper, it was still a relatively low population area on the outskirts.

About halfway through his sandwich, Hale looked up to see a couple people running down the street frantically. They were running towards further into the city, and shortly the group saw a squad of law enforcement officers headed the same way.

"Wonder what that's about, you guys wanna check it out?" Cair asked.

"Can't be any less exciting than this" Alan replied.

"Yeah, why not." Piped in Hale too. So the group grabbed their sandwiches and let human curiosity take over, walking towards the police sirens.

_Just an introductory chapter, setting the basics for the characters. My biggest problem with this story was how to start it, and I think I've finally got that solved. After that it's pretty much a cakewalk. Please read and review, I'd like lots of constructive criticism. Trying to improve my writing as much as I can._


	3. Chapter 2: Strange Occurrences

**Chapter 2: Strange Occurrences**

As the group of friends approached the location of the sirens, they saw groups of people talking quickly amongst themselves, as well as police officers questioning the crowds. As they walked into the crowd they started asking the people what all the commotion was about.

"Seems some pigs or boars or sumfin' are loose in the city. People are getting all worked up over some silly farm animals, even sent a bunch O' cops to look into it," an elderly man with thinning hair explained to them.

A younger blonde woman with her child turned to correct the man "I heard that it was some kids running around in pig masks. They started waving around axes and clubs at people. Do you think it's some kind of gang?" She suddenly began to look panicked, clutching her child closer.

A clean cut man in a suit spat, "Damn kids are always finding ways to get into trouble, just leave em be. I bet they're harmless, just looking for attention."

Alan chuckled at the thought of kids running around in masks. "Seems like a strange thing to be doing in the center of town though, if they want to mess around they should stay outside of town. People get overly worried at the slightest things in this town."

"That's nothing," The old man had turned his full attention to the group, "There talk of bugs the size of dogs just outside of town, the strangest things have been going on lately."

Cair scoffed at the idea, "Probably just some big locust or something. People tend to exaggerate stories to make them sound worse. Not to mention that rumors get inflated over time and distance, right Hale?" She was trying to include her friend in the conversation, since he had been quiet. She looked over at him and saw him staring at a television display that was turned to news.

"Huh, yeah of course."

"Were you even listening?" She huffed at him, but to no avail. He wasn't paying any attention again, and was focused completely on the display.

The news was running a story about the kids in the masks too, but it was an incident from all the way across town. Something about it wasn't sitting right with Hale, about both the stories about the kids and the locust.

Alan walked up to the display, also not feeling right about the whole thing. "How could they get all the way across town so fast?"

"Probably just another group of kids," Cair added, "Maybe they planned it at the same time."

"Maybe."

"Anyways boys, let's go ahead and get out of here."

As she said that, the trio heard a crash from around the corner. Hale's had snapped in that direction and he and Alan both took off towards the noise. They barely rounded the corner when people took off screaming in the other direction. Cair caught up to them, panting, and they quickly saw the cause of the panic. In the middle of the street was a tiger, as big as the car it had just crushed.

The police officers quickly drew their firearms and opened fire, with each bullet piercing skin and injuring the beast. It howled in pain, but quickly crouched down on it's hind legs. It leapt through the air, landing on the closest officer before snatching another in it's powerful jaws.

All this too a mere moment, which was also how long the the three took before reacting. After seeing the beast move with such frightening power they decided the best thing to do would be to run also. They took off down the street and around the corner, running as fast as their legs would carry them.

They made it a few blocks away before their legs began to give out on them. Hale was the first to speak, still panting hard.

"What the hell was that? Did you see how big it was, and it was taking out those cops like they were nothing."

"Yeah, it did," Alan said, "But that wasn't all that was odd. Did you see those spikes on it's back. I've never seen a tiger like that. There's no way it was natural."

"Yeah, I saw it too. The only thing we can do now is rest for a moment, then get the hell out of here. We're close to the edge of town. Maybe we can get out and get away from this madness."

Cair nodded her head quickly, still looking quite panicked. "I just want to get out of here as fast as possible. This is way too much."

"Alright then, let's get going." Hale stood up from his resting place and took off down the road, the other two close behind. It was still quite a few blocks until the edge of town, but in their rush they were making good time. There were no sounds behind them, which gave hope that the tiger had gone a different way.

Unfortunately for the group, the "kids" in the pig masks were waiting at the edges of town. There were four waiting for them the way they had come, each wielding an axe almost as big as itself. Hale saw them first, and stopped quickly enough to not get spotted.

"Guys, I don't think those are kids in masks anymore. They look like they mean to use those things. Let's just look for a different path."

They all agreed, and turned around while trying to avoid making any noise. They were almost far enough away when, right before there eyes, a two story tall man appeared before them.

There was not warning, he did not fade in from transparent to opaque. There were no bright lights marking his approach. He didn't even come from some other direction they didn't notice. Simply, on moment there was nothing there, and the next there was a giant. And what a giant he was. As tall as most small buildings, he was tinted red and wearing red clothing. He had a long beard that was white, and covered most of his chest.

As he started moving towards the group he began to knock over buildings. The tops of the buildings were collapsing, rubble was being strewn everywhere, and worst of all the pig-things had heard the noise. Now they had axe wielding monsters on one side, and a giant on the other. The sight had frozen the three in place, until the giant began to take a deep breath. As he did his chest puffed up and flames began to lick the sides of his mouth, as if they were pouring out of him.

Cair was the first to react, shrieking to her friends as she ran down an rubble filled alley.

"MOVE!"

The boys snapped out of their daze too, and darted right after her. As they hit the alley, the giant belched fire that filled the street. The pigs were consumed by the flames, as the trio almost were.

At the end of the alley, as they approached it, another pig-man stepped in their way. This one held a giant spiked club as big as it's head. Reacting as fast as he could, Alan picked up the biggest piece of rubble he could lift and chucked it at the pig. Before the creature realized what was happening the rock struck it's head. The blow caved it's head, and left it a crumpled heap on the ground.

As they left the other end of the alley, Hale looked back to see if they were being chased. He was relieved to see nothing behind them. He was doubly relieved to see the street they were on was empty. They stopped to catch their breath, when suddenly to their horror they saw 6 orbs of fire spinning in the air in front of them.

The orbs quickly stopped spinning and formed the points of a hexagon in the air. As the did the giant reappeared in the center of the shape. Before any of them had time to react the beast swung it's giant fist. The fist connected with the building next to them causing it to collapse.

Hale had just enough time to wonder what it feels like to be dead, right before the blackness overtook him.


End file.
